James Simons, head of Renaissance Technologies, deposed John Paulson as the world's best-paid hedge fund manager last year as the credit crisis cut pay by 48% from 2007, Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine reported Wednesday.

Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on Forbes' list of the World's Billionaires, a 30% decline from a year ago.